The morning after his wedding night, Wang Lung suddenly
wonders whether his new wife likes him. When she brings him a bowl
of tea, a luxury for a poor farmer, he rejoices that she seems to
feel kindly toward him. Wang Lung settles into married life with
contentment and pleasure. O-lan proves to be resourceful and hardworking.
She keeps his small house immaculate and mends all of the family’s clothing.
She rarely speaks, however, and Wang Lung wonders at the fear and
sadness in her eyes. When their home is in order, O-lan begins working
in the fields with Wang Lung. Soon after their marriage, O-lan announces
that she is pregnant. Though Wang Lung tries to accept the news
calmly, he is filled with a deep inner joy.

Summary: Chapter 3

O-lan refuses to have anyone attend her during her labor
and specifically bans anyone from the House of Hwang. She explains
that she does not want to see anyone from the Hwang family until
she can introduce her son to the Old Mistress. She plans to dress
herself and her baby well for the occasion. She tells her husband
exactly what she and the baby will wear to the Hwang house and what
they will do there. Wang Lung is amazed that O-lan has already imagined their
child so clearly. Wang Lung, his father, and O-lan are delighted when
O-lan gives birth and the baby is a boy.

Summary: Chapter 4

Wang Lung purchases a pound of red sugar for his wife
and new son. In addition, he purchases fifty eggs and dyes them
red, a sign for all to see that his new child is a boy. Finally,
he buys four sticks of incense to burn in honor of the earth god.

Soon after the child’s birth, O-lan returns to working
in the fields, stopping when necessary to nurse her child. The harvest
is extra-ordinarily good. Wang Lung has such bounty that he can
store some until midwinter, knowing that in the winter, people will
pay high prices for grain. On the one-month anniversary of the child’s
birth, Wang Lung holds a celebration and gives out his red boiled
eggs. This celebration is a small extravagance, but Wang Lung and
O-lan are generally frugal people. O-lan makes the family’s shoes
and repairs damaged items instead of purchasing new ones. The couple hides
the silver they have begun to accumulate in a hole in the wall.

Analysis: Chapters 2–4

Buck draws parallels between the rise and fall of families
and the cycles of the natural world—the harvest’s beginning and
end is compared to birth and death. She suggests that just as the
seasons change, great families come and go, and fortunes rise and
fall. Wang Lung’s family, which works hard and loves the land, is
entering its springtime, while the Hwang family, which is materialistic
and extravagant, is entering its autumn, and nothing is unchangeable but
the earth itself.

The idea that all human life begins and ends in the unchanging earth
is the bedrock of the novel, as well as the source of its title.
The novel repeatedly insists that the land deserves respect and
that those who do not accord it this respect will eventually fall
on hard times.

Buck’s portrayal of Chinese culture remains objective
and understated in tone throughout these chapters. In traditional
Chinese culture, the silence of women was highly valued, and O-lan,
a conscientious woman, is almost always silent. But even though
we learn almost nothing about O-lan’s character from her speech,
we learn a great deal about her through her actions. She shows her
pleasure with Wang Lung by bringing him hot tea in the morning.
She shows her great pride in her home by taking care to make it
look the best it can; she cleans and mends household items before
joining Wang Lung in the fields. Her actions establish her as extraordinarily capable,
hardworking, and resourceful. Buck hints at dark episodes in O-lan’s
past, as evidenced by O-lan’s unexplained refusal to allow anyone
from the House of Hwang attend her during her labor.

Buck’s characterization of O-lan demonstrates the importance that
Chinese culture ascribed to women’s labor. O-lan’s labor is crucially
important to Wang Lung, for with her help, he is able to produce
a huge harvest and lay the foundations for future success. O-lan’s
skill at laboring makes Wang Lung’s initial disappointment by her
unbound feet seem foolish, since O-lan would not be able to work
in the fields with the tiny, painful feet produced by foot-binding.
Wang Lung initially desired a wife with bound feet to prove that he
had enough money to support a wife whose feet prevented her from
working. Of course, without a wife capable of laboring, he never
would have gained the wealth this status symbol was supposed to
represent. Buck shows that Wang Lung, despite his love of the land,
has a dangerous weakness for the trappings of wealth.